Glass Artist Jennifer Umphress Needs Your Help- And It's So Easy...

Jennifer Umphress's Glass Art

The 14 year old son Izaiah, of one of our fellow glass artists, Jennifer Umphress, has Burkitts Lymphoma cancer.  Jennifer and her husband have had to move to be close to him while Izaiah is going through cancer and chemo treatments at the hospital.  Which means...Jennifer can't do her glass art.

So, a fabulous raffle has been set up, to help pay for living costs in a second location.  Doesn't that make you proud of our glass world?  It does me.

And the raffle is held monthly on the 10th of each month with raffle tickets at different levels.  Wait until you see the goodies.  The photo at the top is not one of the items, ( it is one of my favorite pieces of hers) but she does have another piece that is in the raffle!  Yikes, wouldn't that be wonderful to win!  And so many more artists have donated pieces that are fabulous too.

So, head over to command central...the Umphress's Family & Friends blog and read through.  The paypal button at the bottom of the page is the way to buy the raffle tickets.  And help out one of our fellow artists and her family.  And by the way, 14 year old Izaiah's body is responding to the chemo and the tumor on his kidney is shrinking (hooray!) but there are still months left to go for treatment.

So now that I've written this, I'm heading back over to their blog to buy some raffle tickets.  Wishing all of you the best of luck and let's give Jennifer (who is a sweetie) a helping hand.

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My Beads Will Be Out of This World!

I can't tell you how totally tickled I am that four of my beads were chosen to go up on the next U.S. Space Shuttle for the Beads of Courage Program.

Wow!

There was a call for artists and I thought I had a chance to have one chosen because my beads are rather child friendly generally in design, so I sent in six choices, just in case.

Here are two of the ones that will be heading into space on May 14th at 2:19 pm EDT. You can bet that I'll be watching tv then.

Here's a link to the crew scheduled for this launch and a short description of what will be done.

But more importantly, I'm hoping that the beads will somehow inspire or bring happiness to the kids who are in the Beads of Courage program.

Little Green Men for Beads of Courage

I was recently asked to help out locally for a Beads of Courage special project. I guess there is a wonderful little cancer patient about 6 years old, who holds a special fascination for a classic Sci-Fi movie that has a little green guy. I was asked to make one for him and the staff who supports him during his hospital and chemo stay.

So 9 little green men who have the essence of his favorite character, but not the same, due to copyright laws, have been completed and delivered to our local Beads of Courage volunteer. If you aren't familiar with this fabulous organization, it's a 501(c)3 which supports children who have cancer or other life threatening illnesses. Their website is http://www.beadsofcourage.net.

Flameworking glass artisans provide handmade beads for special activities during the young patients' stay at the hospital. They receive beads for various events in their medical care, whether x-rays, blood transfusions, chemo or non-compartmentalized "acts of courage". We make special purple heart beads for the lucky ones who "graduate" from treatment and get to go home, as well as glass butterflies for the families who aren't as lucky who have children who don't make it. We also donate "acts of courage beads" which are art beads of all shapes and sizes.

These little Faux-das, as I call them are the special requests that once in a while pop up. I was happy to help and am hoping that the power of this old wise one will increase the little patient's chance to get through and become healthy again. Join me in my wishes. If you are a lampworker, please consider sending a few strays. If you are new to this great non-profit, please pop by their website. It is amazing seeing these children telling their medical story through their long chains of beads and how it helps in their treatment.

Wishing you health and happiness- and as always, great glass. See you tomorrow here at http://www.studiomarcy.blogspot.com